Goooooooood morning, ladies! Happy hump day to all!

I've been doing well with the calorie cycling--I only had a little less than 1050 calories yesterday, and I have planned about 1207 (per Fitday) for today, so that will be my 3 very low days for the week, and then I get to go a little higher for Thursday and Friday, and then I can enjoy my food porn over the weekend Actually, I've already planned tomorrow's food as well, so I know that I can have up to 2500 calories per day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and still end up with an average of only 1800 cals per day for the week

chunkas is my new favorite word!

jillybean- i've actually never heard of calorie cycling. it's an interesting concept, while i know it's not for me (i think i would get used to the 2500 cal and never go back! ), i would interested to learn more (is there a website?).

megan- what kind of puppy is it? my brother's roommate's gf just got a puggle. omg! it's the cutest thing evah! i want one soooo bad.

yesterday was good, but i'm kinda mad at myself (not really, just more of "what did you expect" frames of mind.). monday i was going to go to the gym but i put it off ALL day. i don't know why. so then when 5 gets around i tell myself that it will be too crowded, must go at like 7 or 8. at 7 i'm making dinner and i get this HUUUUUUUUUUGE headache. so needless to say, eventhough i took sunday off, i took monday off too.

then yesterday, i put it off (why? no reason!), then i tell myself i'm not going to let what happened on monday happen again, so i go, and there's maybe one machine open. even the lockers were all full. so i manage to get on an elliptical right away and did 4.5 miles in 35 minutes (buring about 475 calories). so at least i went, and worked out hard, but even if i wanted to, there was no machine open after that (i was so annoyed so i left and vowed to go earlier the next day). so while i'm glad i went, it was not as productive as i wanted it to be.

eating has been good, but a struggle this week (to say the least) i caved an had three cookies yesterday cuz i wanted something sweet and my bf bought cookie dough from some lady at work. i realized that it's probably because i had no other option, so i made pudding last night, and will make warm apples tonight. other than the cookies i was on target yesterday (egg white omlet for breakfast, and a salad with left over pulled pork on top for lunch and dinner). i'm hoping i'm more successful today with exercise and eating.

chiagoposter i want to congratulate u. i know you said u "caved" and ate 3 cookies but only 3? that's great!!! everyone tells me you can't just eat low fat foods all of the time and you can't deprive urself of food you really want, sometimes you need to indulge a bit. my problem is when i do i go to an all out eating binge till i can't even lay down my stomach hurts so much. you probably really enjoyed those three cookies and then moved on in your life to bigger and better things. i hope one day i can do that as well... go out to eat with my bf and enjoy little tastes of all of the yummy food, but then don't decide that i blew it and go home and grab everything in sight and stuff it down my throat.

Hi ladies,

chicagoposter, I'm w/ CookieMonster416 - 3 cookies doesn't sound like "caving" to me! 2-3 cookies (not jumbo-sized, but medium-sized) seems like an "ok in moderation" amount to me, but sadly I'm not good at moderation. I had 4 cookies at the staff meeting yesterday, and a handful of Hershey's kisses! They were "just" medium-sized, though, and I did go to the gym and eat healthily the rest of the day. Anyway, good luck sticking to your eating plan this week!

trnsfrmnreplace, I have to eat something after the gym, and I usually do have dairy too. Milk, string cheese, or yogurt. I go after work but usually wait 2-3 hours to have dinner (if eating w/ BF, he eats later) so I NEED to eat something and drink a bunch of water sooner than that. I don't know if it's the dairy in particular, or the protein.

Jenn, way to motivate!

More power outages at my house last night so get this - I was so frustrated/determined to stay OP that I spent 1/2 hour making salads and partitioning cut-up veggies in tupperwares for the next few days by candlelight, put together a healthy chicken recipe, and took it all to BF's (who I had planned to leave alone, but I do like my hot shower in the AM). I was pretty proud of myself.

Wanting to play with the new puppy of course had nothing to do with going to BF's. Riiiight. He is so cute and sweet-natured! We're not sure what kind he is. He's about 3 months old, and looks like he's definitely got a lot of black or brown lab in him. I'm totally going to become one of those people who talks about their pets constantly. I apologize now. Hehe.

Have a great day ladies.

I knew chunkas would catch on. I say it all the time, actually I have for years. It gets the point across with out having to say the "f" word (fat). Plus it's just fun to say!

oh yea, and just to update those of you who I was talking with about this a couple weeks ago: I have lost 3 pounds since last Sunday WITH OUT counting calories. I have buckled down and not used not counting as a reason to overeat and eat things I wouldn't if I was counting. Not to mention working out helps a lot. SO I am officially back where I was before the holidays. I had gained like 4 pounds, so i am glad it's gone. Now the rest of the journey begins!!!

So ladies,
TOM cam last night and although my eating was poor it was not a complete mess as far as calories go...I worked out at like 11 p.m. after I got home from all the work I had to do last night. I am thinking just for a future reference that strength training when on TOM might not be the best thing to do. Today I am jam packed again. I am working my SAH job for a few hours then I have to get ready and go into Denver to shoot a basketball game...except that this one is way different...Its an NBA game!!! OMG my first professional sports assignment. I am soooooo excited. It will be way hard to stay on track as far as calories go though, they feed the media like crazy. I also may be staying in Colorado Springs for the night (Denver (where the game is) is about 3 hours away, Colorado Springs is like the halfway point. It is my goal to get all the way back home tonight though. I need to be home to workout and I need to get up early tomorrow and get some work in. Wish me luck girls! I hope you all have a fabulous day!

I'm back. Did you miss me?

^^

Just got back from a 4+ mile power walk....ate a small golden delicious apple and have drunk almost 64 oz. of water so far...I will aim for 80 - 90 oz. today.

With exercise out of the way, I can relax and watch the Grammy's tonight at 8 on CBS. It's too bad that it coincides with the Biggest Loser: Special Edition finale. Even though I didn't watch BL Seasons 1 & 2, I have seen every single one of those special edition shows so far and they are so inspirational. I guess I'll just have to switch to BL during commercials. I am looking forward to Bruce Springsteen's, Madonna's & Christina Aguilera's performances at the Grammy's.

Stephanie, woohoo on being back in the 150's....I think you've said good-bye to the 160's for GOOD now. When do you think you'll make goal? June? July? Even though I won't make goal by summer, I'm just glad that I'm going to be smaller (should be in the normal weight range) than I am now so I can wear shorts in the 115 degree weather! Also, I'll be much less self-conscious about swimming in my pool - I only swam in my pool one day last summer, even though it's right in my own backyard and watching my brothers and sisters in it looked like so much fun. This summer will be different, though. I might even buy a few bikinis.

Megan, you are one dedicated chick! Your body will be thanking you for it! And talk about your new puppy all you want...I like hearing about him. I've been wanting one myself for a while, but won't be able to get one for a few years. I have always wanted a Shiba Inu...here is a pic of one as a puppy: Wikipedia
Awwww, right????

Everybody else, keep on holding on, even if the scale isn't budging...you know what your body needs, so let it have it! Lots of exercise, fresh air and healthy, unprocessed foods, that is. Oh, and make sure and have a little bit (OK, a LOT!) of fun, too, with your family and friends.

Oh, and Arian...glad to see your "face" on here.

Jenn - awwww, that baby dog is sooooo cute! Ya, never over 150's again!!! It's funny because even though at my heaviest I was 190, I hated the 170's the MOST!!!! I am not kidding, the 170's were the hardest to get through for me!!! Goal, hmmm, I have put some thought into that because I need to start trying on wedding dresses in like May. I am planning a modest 5 pounds a month till I hit my goal, if it's more than that a month, then that is great. I am starting to realize at this point I am losing inches even though the pounds aren't too high. So, yeah June or July. I will be happy with 140 to 145 I think, but we'll see. I wanna be at 145 at least when I start trying on dresses. Getting back on track though, I am already really starting to feel better about myself. And I seriously can already changes in my body from my Pilates class, it's awesome. I would love to wear shorts this summer. I haven't worn shorts in public, except for the gym in years and years. I didn't even get into a bathing suit last summer! WHich is rediculous, seeing as how Phoenix is horrible heat wise like 9 months out of the year. I think we're on like 112 days with no rain. What do you think of that brown haze? HAHAHA. It makes running outside a lot of fun. I am sure it affects you on your hikes!

Anyway, I am definitely back to being enthused about reaching my goal. I never though that after losing 30 pounds I would have trouble with motivation and believing that I could do it, but this is about the weight I have been at sinc high school, so mentally I can't see myself any smaller than this. I am just going to pretent I dont' care about that and keep going. I am bound to prove to myself eventually, that I can do it.

I missed you Arian!

you have another dog lover here! i want a french bulldog or a puggle sooo bad! jenn, that dog is sooo cute. my best friend in college had one, and pictures were precious.

today was a great day for me. i was on point, and worked out 90 minutes. it was hard to get myself to the gym, since i had to walk in nasty, windy, flurry weather to get there, but once i was there, i felt like i should make the most of it (did i mention that i didn't want to go back in the cold?) . i started to run, but i felt my right shin start to hurt. i think i'm going to stick to the elliptical for a while. whaaaaaa. it's going to make it harder for me to make progress with running for my 8k in april.

Hi All,

I'm new here and gosh dang-it, if y'all can lose weight, so can I. I turn 20 March 1st and my birthday present is a treadmill. I love to run, but I don't like gyms or waking up early. I've wanted one for a while and I'm so excited about it.

About me: I'm a sophomore at UT Austin in petroleum engineering. I have a wonderful boyfriend (who will be known as "fiancé" as soon as he can afford the ring, and "husband" as soon as I graduate) so I'm not trying to lose weight to catch me a man or anything. My mom's very overweight...so is every girl in my family...and I don't want to become obese and inactive and depressed. Plus, there are so many cute clothes for size 10 and down. As of now, I just had to move into 16's.

Anyway, I have a huge problem with sugar, but that's pretty much it. I would be a twig if sugar was never discovered ^_^. I'm just going to worry about working out regularly. It seems when I do that, my eating tends to work itself out on it's own. So my goal is to run/walk six days a week at night for at least 3 miles. That's not so bad. There's a 10k in April I'd kinda like to shoot for...who knows ^_^.

I'm pretty much here because my boyfriend get's tired of hearing about my weight loss struggles (can't blame him ^_^) and I need a place to talk and vent and be accountable.

Homework to do now, I'll check in tomorrow! Hopefully I get the treadmill before my birthday so I can start my personal challenge sooner rather than later!

Thanks,
Tracy

Morning all.

So I'm trying not to feel too disgusted with myself. Last night I cheated on my diet . And I've only been on it for like 4 days! I blame my bf. I've been jonesin' chocolate for days now, but I've been doing fine by staying and eating at home where there's no chocolate to be found. But last night, my boyfriend forced me (yeah right) to go to the movies. We usually stop at a drugstore beforehand to get drinks and snacks (bc you know the theater concessions are so overpriced), and when I went and got a diet Sierra Mist (very OP was I), I caved and got a chocolate bar. I am kind of proud of myself because I originally picked up two candy bars, but then put them both down bc I was feeling guilty. But then picked one back up at the counter. Grrr! I need more self-control! Well, I'm going to convince myself that it wasn't toooo bad bc it was a semi-sweet dark chocolate bar, which I think has less sugar and stuff. Still. I'm so mad at myself.

Hey everyone,

I have now been proud of myself for 1 1/2 days. Yesterday I was stressed (my rent is being raised by $400 so I might be moving!) and busy (dress rehearsal, a pile of chores in addition to the usual workday) but I still got a good workout in at the gym and ate totally OP for only 1200 calories for the day. Yes!!! If only I can keep it up.

I tried to upload a picture of BF's puppy but it kept failing. I think it has something to do w/ the firewall at work, since I'm not really supposed to be here. Hehe.

chaimberbell, Good luck with your fitness goals. There are a lot of friendly "faces" here to support you along the way.

Arian, welcome back!

Stephanie, 150's, awesome!!! And how great you can feel the changes from your Pilates class. I once bought a pilates dvd but I just got bored while doing it. I guess I'm saving it for a rainy day.

chicagoposter, way to go getting to the gym! Do you know why your shin was hurting? Shin splints, or something else?

Jenn, I can't get to the picture of the puppy - there's no link in my browser page. I blame my crappy network at work, again. I'm sure he's a cutie though. All puppies are! Sounds like you're being very healthy. Great job!

It's almost the weekend ladies (dun dun dun I hear menacing music). Let's keep it moving!

ncola, we all need a sweet treat once in a while. It was only one candy bar. Count the calories, points, or whatever you count, and move on. Don't be so down on yourself!